Disk to VHD (for Simulating before Actual Deployment)

Today I would like to share with you one of the great tool for converting the current physical server to Virtual Hard Disk (VHD).  This may be an old tool but it serve the purpose.

I’ve a scenario, that I have to do a testing upgrading the current DPM 2007 to DPM 2010.  I do not have the luxury of another similar physical server for me to do a clone.  Therefore, I get the recommendation to convert it to VHD and add it into the Hyper-V as a VM.

The tool is called Disk2vhd v1.63.  More information on the tool and is downloadable is in this link.

This tool can run online and uses the VSS technology to capture the point-in-time snapshots of the volumes and convert into VHD( s) on the physical machine. 

Once it’s converted, then use the Microsoft Hyper-V and attach the VHD.  Perform the upgrade and find if there’s any issue before doing the actual upgrade in the physical server.

Thank you and hope this helps you as it helps me.

keywords : DPM 2010; DPM 2007, Physical to virtual, P2V,